Today, Andruw and I went with the Pattersons (Mark, Kristy, and Caleb) and a girl named Briana (not on our team) to a small village (population ~1000) called El Buen Pastor (The Good Shepherd) about an hour and a half away from Siguatepeque by four-wheeler. We mounted up the 6 of us onto two four-wheelers and drove out to Las Lagunas, a town about an hour away from Siguatepeque where Osvaldo, a Honduran pastor who visits El Buen Pastor to evangelize, lives and has his church. From there, we drove on the really rough roads for a half hour until we reached El Buen Pastor.
We all had no idea what to expect when we got there. The Pattersons and Osvaldo have been going there together for several months. A usual visit looks like sharing a Bible lesson at the school, teaching the kids a memory verse, and then walking around the village sharing the gospel with the villagers. El Buen Pastor has no electricity, no formal government, and no evangelical church. There is a catholic church, however.
Well, a few days ago, the Pattersons had heard that they had been forbidden to teach in the school anymore. When we got there, we began to find out why this had happened. Apparently, several parents had been spreading the rumor that we bore the mark of the beast, and if we taught the kids, we would give them the mark of the beast as well. This rumor spread until it even ended up on the radio, with the result that a number of parents had instructed the teachers not to let the missionaries come anymore. The whole way there, I know I was praying that God would resolve the situation and remove the roadblocks so that the gospel could be preached to the kids.
Within minutes of our arrival, it became apparent how God had already been working. Five minutes after we arrived at the school, two men walked in after us. Mark eventually found out that one of them was the superintendent of the school, similar to a school district superintendent in the states. This man had never before visited the school in El Buen Pastor, and his first visit was minutes after we arrived. He confirmed that legally, we could teach there, and he went even farther to inviting the Pattersons to a meeting tomorrow in Comayagua with many local teachers including several from Buen Pastor in order to present their case and receive official written consent to teach at the school. This man being there was probably the best thing that could have happened to ensure the missionaries could return to the school.
In addition, during this trip, they were finally able to identify the man who is sort of "in charge" of the town, something they've been trying to find out for months. After speaking with him and a woman from the catholic church, it became apparent that only a minority of the villagers are against them being there, and it seems they will be allowed to return in the future. Apparently, there was a cult called Alpha and Omega that denies the trinity (they only believe in Jesus) who used to come to the village. They were very rude and forceful, and they are unwanted there, so when the villagers saw us teaching, several feared we were with Alpha and Omega. Thankfully, Kristy was teaching the story of creation to the kids when one of the ladies from the catholic church came up, so she got to hear that the missionaries also believe in God and teach from Scripture. All in all, these were huge developments for the long term mission of bringing the gospel to the community.
Andruw, Caleb, and I got to play soccer with a bunch of the kids at the schoolgrounds while all of this was taking place. Later on, we shared the gospel with a group of 7 or so adults and teenagers standing nearby the school while Caleb translated. I felt very weak and inadequate while talking, especially through a translator, but I was reminded of how the Holy Spirit had already been working before we even arrived, and that brought a lot of confidence later. Thank God that He uses weak instruments to share the good news of what He has done through the sending of His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins! The group of people I was talking with, including the lady from the catholic church who teaches Bible stories to the kids, did not know what the gospel was, so it may have been the first time they ever heard it. After I spoke, Andruw talked about our authority being God's Word, and Osvaldo stepped in and fervently preached the gospel to the same people for quite some time. This also gave him the opportunity to speak with this lady for some time about how the missionaries were there to share the gospel, not to promote an organization or a specific denomination. God's church is a people, not a place or an organization.
We then drove up to the top of this hill where we had an amazing view of the surrounding mountains. A believer named AmilioBuen Pastor, and that they all become these new creations of unspeakable beauty, united with Christ through His sacrifice on the Cross.
Please pray for Mark tomorrow as he attends the meeting with the teachers and school superintendent, for the Pattersons and Osvaldo as they continue to share the gospel to this village, and for the villagers, that they would come to know Jesus as their Savior.
UPDATE: Mark attended the teachers meeting this morning and was able to share the gospel with 35 teachers. The teachers in El Buen Pastor are going to have a meeting with all the parents of the students, and Mark will be sharing the gospel there as well. He also received an invitation to work with another village. Praise the Lord for how He used a ministry roadblock to further the spreading of the gospel! Please continue to lift the Pattersons and the villagers of El Buen Pastor up in prayer.
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